,
7 tweets,
1 min read
Read on Twitter
Questions I wish broadcast interviewers would ask cabinet ministers and supportive MPs over the new Irish border proposal (thread):
1. The "consent mechanism" provides that Stormont should endorse the new system during the transition period, ie between 1 Nov 2019 and 31 Dec 2020. What happens if NI institutions don't agree to sit in this short timeline? What is the default if consent cannot be expressed?
2. If consent is somehow secured or assumed to get the proposed solution off the ground, does consent "renewal" after 4 years require a positive consent vote or the absence of a withdrawal of consent? (Eg what happens if Stormont collapses again before the 4-year-mark?)
3. If the answer to 1 or 2 is that the full regulatory (and customs) border returns to the Northern Ireland-Irish Republic border, how does the UKG propose this border to be enforced? How will the regulatory border work without adding checks/controls/infrastr at or near border?
4. Do the answers to 1, 2, and 3 mean that the DUP has the unilateral power to put in place a full EU-third country customs and regulatory border on the island of Ireland every four years?
and 5. Even if Stormont consent is given and maintained, if the problem is the establishment of a border, how is it that establishing _two_ borders is an improvement or a compromise? /ends (for now)
(restarts) 6. If it's acceptable to have the EU decide goods regulations for NI so long as NI institutions agree, is it also acceptable to have the EU decide trade policy for NI so long as they agree? If not, why not? /ends (again)
